Pets often like to play with objects of all kinds, some they chew and consume in part or entirely. Artificial bones, teething toys, etc., which contain components for exciting the animal's interest and chewing instincts are well known in the art. Dogs, in particular, like to chew on household objects or manufactured pet products, as their owner may intentionally or casually have set them aside for this use.
Accordingly, it is common in the art to manufacture chewable products that are chewed, consumed and digested by pets. The chew product is manufactured with various materials that result in a range of hardness. The level of hardness corresponds to the jaw strength of the pet and the amount of time it takes the pet to tear apart and consume the chew product. Chewable objects perform a number of useful functions for pets. They provide exercise for the pets' jaw muscles, they massage the pets' gums and thus clean the pets' teeth and they provide relief during periods of tooth eruption when animals, specifically puppies, are teething. Chewable objects also provide entertainment for occupying the pets' attention. It is often the case that dogs instinctively consume, in part or in whole, objects that are not beneficial to the health of the animal. Even certain pet products for dogs, can be detrimental to the dog when larger pieces are torn apart and consumed.
A variety of chew toys and chew products have been manufactured for the entertainment of pets. These chew toys and chew products are made from a variety of material. For example, rawhide, woven fabrics, plastic or rope have been used but they are subject to breakdown from continued chewing and may also cause digestive problems if large or sharp pieces are swallowed. Softer chew toys and chew products cannot be used for the pets' entertainment while the pet is unattended for extended periods since, by instinct, pets will consume the pieces. More stable materials, such as rubber or plastic have also been used for such chewable objects but frequently these materials have undesirable tastes and quickly loose the attention of the pet. A variety of methods have been developed to impregnate chewable objects with odor or flavor extracts or animal meals. These products have limited success in exciting the pet into chewing a chew toy manufactured with undesirable materials.
More specifically, there exists several chew toys, such as "The Kong".TM., that have opening(s) manufactured as part of the chew toy that are marketed to hold animal food items, particularly dog biscuits, for the enjoyment of the pet. The food item and the chew toy is not an integral system and the food item is usually consumed quickly, which significantly limits its entertainment value to the pet.
A chew toy called the "Goodie Ship".TM. manufactured by Planet Pet.TM. includes star-shaped receptacles for small dog biscuits, called "Goodie Grippers".TM.. These biscuit grippers have a slight advantage over the hole in "The Kong".TM. by holding the food product a little more securely using flexible, rubber flanges within the hole. However, this technique is limited to small dog biscuits and the biscuits are relatively easy for the pet to remove from the grippers. The chew toy and the chew product are not an integral system allowing the pet owner to determine the amount of chew product that the pet may have as well as the hardness of the chew product.
However, no prior art pet chew product enables the pet owner to leave the chew product with the pet without the fear of the pet quickly consuming the entire chew product. Furthermore, no prior art product enables the pet owner to use chew products that are coated with flavorings, since they often stain the floors and rugs of the pet owner. To date it has not been known in the art to manufacture an integral system consisting of both the chew toy and the chew products.
The most pertinent patent prior art of which the applicant is aware includes U.S. Pat. No. 5,947,061 issued to Markham et al, dated Sep. 7, 1999; U.S. Pat. No. 5,819,690 issued to Brown, dated Oct. 13, 1998; U.S. Pat. No. 5,813,366 issued to Mauldin, Jr., dated Sep. 29, 1998; U.S. Pat. No. 5,673,653 issued to Sherrill, dated Oct. 7, 1997; U.S. Pat. No. 5,865,146 issued to Markham, dated Feb. 2, 1999; U.S. Pat. No. 5,619,954 issued to Rotondi, dated Apr. 15, 1997; U.S. Pat. No. 2,003,958 issued to M. B. Salisbury, dated Jun. 4, 1935; U.S. Pat. No. 5,832,877 issued to Markham, dated Nov. 10, 1998; U.S. Pat. No. 5,174,243 issued to O'Rourke, dated Dec. 29, 1992; U.S. Pat. No. 5,799,616 issued to McClung, III, dated Sep. 1, 1998; and U.S. Pat. No. 5,965,182 issued to Lindgren, dated Oct. 12, 1999.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,865,146 issued to Markham is particularly pertinent in that is discloses a chewable pet toy having an elongate hollow body with spaced apart first and second bulbous section. The hollow body may be filled with a food product which can be removed by the pet by biting down on the pet toy and deforming the side-wall, thus, the food product is self-dispensing and may be consumed at a rate determined by the amount of chewing of the animal. However, neither the Markham chewable pet toy nor any of the other prior art pet items known to the applicant provide the features and advantages of the present invention which represent a significant advance in the state of-the-art of chewable pet toys.